Timing Arrival at Your Event: How Early Is Too Early?

I recorded this episode from a car park. Literally.

It was 9:05 AM, the event I was heading to started at 9:30, and I was sitting in my car because I knew that 25 minutes early was too soon. That little moment of waiting got me thinking about arrival timing, and how we can better help our audience and ourselves when we're planning events.

What's Actually Happening Before Doors Open

If you've ever run an event, you know what those final 30 minutes look like. Best case: the team is doing a final briefing, taking a collective breath, having a quiet cup of coffee before showtime. Worst case: someone's sprinting around fixing something that went sideways at the last minute.

Either way, the last thing I want as an organiser is a guest wandering in and hovering at the registration desk while I'm still mid-setup. And as an attendee, I know I'm not really welcome yet, even if no one says it out loud. Thirty minutes early is too early, full stop.

My Arrival Sweet Spot

As an attendee, my personal preference is 15 minutes early. By that point, the team is ready, the room is at its best. Clean, calm, and not yet crowded, and I get to experience the event in its ideal state. I like seeing rooms before they fill up. I like meeting people at their highest energy. And I like being one of the first through the door, before the bottlenecks form.

Arriving exactly on time sounds polished in theory, but in practice it often means joining a crush of people, a queue at registration, and whatever minor chaos has already unfolded in the first few minutes. And arriving more than 15 minutes late? I risk walking in mid-proceedings, disrupting whoever's on stage, and spending my first moments apologising rather than settling in.

That said, people are late for all sorts of reasons. Traffic. Kids. Lost shoes. I once arrived at a workshop with literally no shoes on my feet, or in my car! Rarely is someone late out of disrespect.

Know Your Audience

The most useful thing I can do when planning an event's arrival window is think honestly about my audience's behaviour patterns.

For example, one particular event I run attracts and audience that loves to be early. I plan for them to arrive half an hour early, sometimes a full hour. For this group, being early is deeply ingrained. If my room won't be ready that early, and it usually won't be, I have a plan. A nearby cafe, a clear instruction in my pre-event communications, a foyer with comfortable seating. Somewhere I can direct early arrivals so they're not hovering awkwardly while I'm still setting up.

For one event I run regularly, I advertise an 11:45 AM arrival for a 12:00 PM start. But I don't actually open the room until 12:15 or 12:30. It might feel a little unfair to the punctual ones, and honestly, as someone who's usually early, it does sometimes frustrate me. But a room full of settled, arrived guests is worth far more than starting sharp and managing disruptions as latecomers filter in for the next 20 minutes.

The Simple Takeaway

Whether I'm attending or organising, arrival timing deserves more thought than it usually gets. As an attendee, aim for 15 minutes early. As an organiser, know your audience, plan for their patterns, and always have a place for your early birds to land.